116 more villages get electricity

A total of 116 villages in nine states got electricity during the week ending on April 3, taking the total in 2015-16 to 7,128, an official statement said on Monday.

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The power ministry said the electrification took place under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna.

“Of these electrified villages, 4 are in Odisha, 12 in Jharkhand, 11 in Arunachal Pradesh, 4 in Bihar, 27 in Assam, 46 in Chhattisgarh, 4 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 in Rajasthan and one in Manipur,” the statement said.

The government has decided to provide electricity to 18,452 villages by May 1, 2018, it said.

“Out of the remaining 10,890 villages, 7,357 villages are to be electrified through grid, 3,093 villages through off-grid, where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers, and 440 villages are to be electrified by state governments,” the statement added. (IANS)